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January 09, 2006

Don't, Belove

Sights, smells, sounds from a train ride to Ahmedabad.

***

Young couple gets on at Borivali. He's short and tubby and -- why? -- extremely aggressive. "What's your seat?" he barks at me. I'm in his seat, but if I moved over to sit in mine, they'd be on either side of me. He quickly realizes this and they both sit down. But why bark?

First thing they do is, they rummage in their bulging bags, she pulls out an empty plastic water bottle and slides it out the window. Was it too hard to find a trash can on the Borivali platform?

Later in the journey, I wake from a doze to find they have switched seats; she is now next to me. I wake because I feel a tugging. She has crossed her arms and is clearly trying to adjust some part of her clothing; thinking she has got it, she's tugging at my sleeve.

Later still, she has her hands inside a large woollen cap that sits in her lap. Feeling cold? Well, not quite. Periodically, she pulls out a mobile phone and checks for messages, then sticks it back in the cap. The phone is feeling cold.

***

The man is congenitally aggressive. A tea vendor comes by, and he barks for a cup. Vendor hands over a plastic cup of hot water and milk, and a tea bag. When he gets it, the man barks again: "Yeh chai nahin hai, garam pani hai!" ("This is not tea, this is hot water!")

The vendor says quietly, "Peeke dekho." ("Drink it and see.")

The man dips the tea bag in, the stuff turns steadily browner, he drinks it without further complaint.